Blueslily

Hello All,

I am so excited today. This is my 2-year anniversary. I met with my surgeon today for my 2 year follow up and I do not have any issues or medical complications.

I started the journey at 235 lb. Today I am holding steady in the 140s. Yes, almost 100 lbs. I do not have any complications. I am still adhering to my program. I am not food deprived in any way. I feel really blessed.

I came to this site when I was doing research and when I started the journey. I stopped being a regular here maybe about a year post surgery.

I just wanted to share to people who are starting the journey or are early on in the process, be careful because sometimes there's negativity here or sometimes there are some scary stories about scary outcomes. Each person has their own unique journey. I feel really blessed that I did not have any complications and that it was not really hard to adhere to my program. I will be honest, when I first got home from the hospital, there was quite an adjustment. But most of those adjustments are due to your body going through the healing process. So the challenges that you experience right when you get home are not the same as you go through the process. I also want to share with newcomers that you really want to do your emotional work before you start this commitment and you want to be really clear and honest with yourself that your motivation is healthy and that you're doing this for the right reasons. If you need to work on yourself emotionally, this surgery is not going to do that work for you.

All the best to everyone going through the process. Don't have any shame about choosing this option. There's still only a couple people in my life that know, and I'm totally fine with that. I don't have any shame about it, it's just that I'm sure some people won't understand the choice. That's okay because they don't have to. I made this choice because I wanted to be healthy. And today, on my two year anniversary, I am healthy!

Take care of yourselves everyone. Success is possible. It just requires that you do your part in the work.

8 hours ago, Erin18 said:

I think this is why they have us see a bariatic therapist before surgery. See if you can set an appointment up with one to help you through it?

Exactly. The surgery is there to assist, but relationship with food is recommended to he addressed with a MH professional before having the surgery so there is not a misunderstanding that surgery will fix something that's is a bit deeper and more complex. Like addressing the impact of unresolved trauma for example. Good luck everyone. I am a year and 3 months post and doing great. Little urges to snack at night. Nighttime is an unfriendly little creature, lol. Just joking. I just kindly redirect myself at night. I'm not hungry. I'm not even bored or dealing with anything emotional. It's just like an urge to eat, lol. But, I get to choose how to respond. The process has been good overall. No regrets. But, I also mentally prepared and understood what is my role and responsibilities in this process. All the best everyone 🙂👍

On 4/2/2022 at 12:49 PM, Cherylanne22 said:

Thanks so much on the great reply. I have been telling everyone from the start that it's not so much how much weight I have lost but how I feel and what I can do differently now. And as for all that I am 100 percent there 😁, but looking at everyone's posts over a year post surg I let my mind go there where I feel it's not enough 🤔. I am still working on the balance and I will definitely Celebrate my goals so far, no diabetic meds, no heart meds. Ect. Congrats on all your accomplishments 🤜🤛👍🙌.

You are one year in and have accomplish so much. No need to pay attention to goals other people set on here. We all have our own journey, reason for the surgery, commitment level, recovery process, etc. Continue to focus on how you feel and what you can do differently now. Celebrate non-scale victories. Like my rings are currently being resized by the jeweler. You are almost at your one year surgerversary. Enjoy this month. Please dont waste this great time of year to focus on not seeing a specific number on the scale. 😃 congrats!!

17 hours ago, Lyric on A journey said:

Surgery next week on the eighth just now starting clear liquid diet wondering if I should reschedule

Good luck to you. People in this thread had surgery last year, in April 2021. We are getting ready to Celebrate our one year surgerversaries. There is an April 2022 thread for folks who are getting ready to have surgery this April. I'm sure some of them can relate to your thoughts about rescheduling. There are lots of great threads on here to help you prepare and work through the process. Good luck.

On 2/18/2022 at 11:12 PM, NurseShannon77 said:

I’ve had a rough row to hoe since October. I wound up in an Ulcerative Colitis flare in October that lead into not one, but two hospitalizations with autoimmune pancreatitis. That’s been fun! Now I’m dealing with a possible ulcer in my pouch since I’m on steroids for the UC and I ran out of protonix two weeks ago and the OTC omeprazole isn’t nearly as good as the protonix.

So my surgery weight was 251 pounds on 4/23/21. I’m down to 137-140 range. I like where I am and I want to maintain this weight.

I hope that you are doing better. Congrats on your 100+ weight loss. You are at 11 months now. Almost at your 1 year mark in a few weeks. Are you planning to do anything to Celebrate? I'm deciding how to acknowledge this huge success 😁 wondering what people are thinking about.

On 4/1/2022 at 1:32 AM, Cherylanne22 said:

Hi there, I am 1 year out 4/15 Physically I am doing great all the meds gone walking 1-2 miles a day. Bad thing is I am still 12 pounds away from my goal and no matter what I do I can't get past this. I talked to my surgeon he said cut back on more calories but still hasn't helped. Any suggestions welcome. Thanks

Congrats on all your progress. Any plans to do anything to acknowledge your progress and surgerversary?

Sorry to hear that you are having difficulty losing those last 12 pounds. I'm not sure I can be helpful with suggestions since it sounds like you have tried many things so far. I would say making a change to exercise or food intake, but I'm guessing that you've done both in different ways so far.

I did not have a weight goal when I started my process. My goal was no CPAP and BP pills. A specific number for the scale was NOT on my motivation list. When I got rid of the CPAP, I was thrilled. Exact weight wise, my body kind of chose a slowing point for weight loss. I started to see myself as smaller and felt ok with the size. I actually became concerned about not wanting to get smaller because did not want to look sick or be too little since that's not really me. I then looked at the number on the scale and chose what I thought was a good buffer weight since weight will fluctuate by a few pounds as we are living life. So, I picked the number that way. I was only like 3 pounds away from that selected goal weight at that time. I kept eating by the plan from my surgery program and I lost those 3 pounds to hit the goal weight. I think that took maybe around a month or so. It was slower at that point as my body had found its resting point. I was fine with that. I will say that I've lost 3 more pounds since getting to my goal weight. That's fine with me. Gives me more space for fluctuating. I still eat according to plan. I weigh every morning without any emotional distress. It holds me accountable for anything I did the prior day. I'm saying all this to just say that perhaps you can Celebrate success where you are. I read so many people post goal weights here and how some struggle with frustration at times due to difficulty getting to that exact number. Perhaps that's not the best strategy. Just my thought. Like if I weighed 5 pounds more, would I be ok with that. Yep. Just sharing so maybe you can have less frustration about where you are. Sounds like you did great. Congrats! 🤗🙋‍♀️👍

Attention April 2021 Sleevers,

This message is for everyone who had surgery last year in 2021...last year April sleevers. Tomorrow is April 1, 2022. For those of us who had surgery last year in April 2021, we are getting ready to have our one year surgerversaries! Can you believe it!! One full year post surgery!

How's everyone from April 2021 doing?

I'm still doing ok. I have maintained my goal for the past 4 months. Still have restriction. I still dont drink and eat at the same time. Still eat according to my plan. Still only my surgery team, my friend who helped with me during recovery, and the therapist who I met with - those are the only three people who know I had surgery. My labs are good. sleep apnea gone. BP pill gone. Libido gone too, lol. Overall, I'm good.

Welcome to April and I wish everyone a great ONE YEAR surgerversary! 🤗👍🙋‍♀️

14 hours ago, Tommyjohnson@13 said:

April 12th

I was sleeved I was 346

i now weight 230. Very happy with my results

Congrats on 100+ pound weight loss. How are you doing maintaining progress?

15 hours ago, Flounder said:

I'm still 45 lb from my goal, have been eating like I'm sustaining but still haven't hit my goal. The last pounds seem to be the hardest

I'm rooting for you. Hopefully you'll see some movement soon in those last 45 pounds.

How does it feel to have lost the weight that you have so far? Im hoping that you've celebrated that progress.

Hello April Sleevers,

Can you believe it. We are in February. Which means that some of us are getting close to the 1 year mark for our surgeries.

My VSG was on April 6 so I'm at 10 months. I just celebrated my birthday and treated myself. Things are moving smoothly at 10 months. I met my goal, and I am maintaining my loss without any issues (minus my birthday celebration, lol). No complaints here. I cant believe that we are almost at 1 year. I'm still very happy that I had VSG done and that I committed to doing everything to make changes that have me at goal and staying there. 🙂

How are you all doing? How are you doing at 10 months?

Hope all you April sleevers are ok.😁

Hello Fellow April Sleevers,

Happy Holidays to all of you. I wish you a wonderful holiday season. All the best for maintaining your progress during a season in which there is lots of focus on food. I'm feeling confident that I will remain committed to my goals. Wishing you all success!

Sorry, I cant imagine getting any type of surgery done without knowing what I would need to do afterwards. I used to read these boards a lot when preparing, but post surgery and at goal now, its disheartening to read some posts on here so I'm here a lot less. People not doing what they were advised to do but rant and rave anger here. Seems so silly. Surgery is a tool. That's it. I knew that going in and I knew it during. And, if the surgery team is not giving you enough info, sorry, but there are tons of places online to get it. I never research just using one source. Nor, did I just meet with one surgeon. I get it that some folks have challenges after surgery. No problem. Our bodies are different and react different. But, if someone is not willing to make lifestyle changes, this is not the surgery for them. I'm off to take a break from this site again. Stuff like this is annoying. I dont take it personal, but it just feeds into the negativity out there about having WLS. All the best everyone!

6 hours ago, Tommyjohnson@13 said:

So my doctor never put me on a post diet. He said eat what ever you want.

your gonna lose weight. April 12th and I’m a hundred pounds down. My goal is ten more pounds. but I haven’t lost any weight in 6 weeks.
I can eat a whole sandwich. But then I’m stuffed.

im active but I don’t go to the gym.
seems like everyone but me had a good plan for post op

That's interesting. For me, the way I eat now is just kind of how I eat. It's been so long that I no longer refer to it as a diet. I like how I eat also. Very interesting that your doctor said eat whatever you want. Well, congrats on your weight loss, good luck with the last 20, and good luck maintaining your loss 🤗

5 hours ago, Cherylanne22 said:

I was already eating starches small amounts of course and spinach wraps and was still losing alot of weight, maybe because I exercise alot more too.? Thanks for your reply. Take care 🙂

I was allowed to eat small amounts of starches months ago as well, but I just wasn't having it. LoL. So, I didn't eat any. Oh, correction, I would eat corn sometimes mixed with veggies. The wraps I eat are spinach wraps also. Go figure. I added that in October. And I loss weight eating them also, but the past few weeks it slowed and I added the sweet potato just 2 weeks ago. That and going up maybe an ounce and a half in intake. I had this grazing thing going on in early October right after my 6 month weigh in (which was shocking), but I was still ok. I grazed on carrots, cantaloupe, and almond slivers, lol. The grazing was scary because I didn't want it to trigger a habit, but one day it just stopped. Oh, it stopped when I increased by an ounce. I realized then that I could move to 5.5 ounces. That solved the grazing problem. So, maybe it was just natural progression that I've been maintaining g the past 2-3 weeks. I don't know. Wrap in October and sweet potato to weeks ago. That's all that changed. Until the sweet potato, I was concerned because I didn't want to keep losing. I had planned to speak with my surgery team this week to ask how to make it stop. But, it just leveled out. I'm hoping that's what this is (maintenance) versus being a stall that.might one day just go away, lol. But, either way, I'm happy where I am. Now my focus is just staying here.

On 12/8/2021 at 8:17 AM, Flounder said:

I'm stuck on a plateau, still about 60 lb from my goal and have not moved in a month

Oh my. I bet that's frustrating. I had a couple long pauses. The longest one was 2.5 weeks. I tried my best to not get too frustrated because I didnt want to trigger emotional eating in response to my frustration. Good luck.

On 12/8/2021 at 11:20 AM, Cherylanne22 said:

How do you stop losing weight? I still have about 20 pounds to go for my goal. But was wondering what happens after that?

The last few weeks my weight loss slowed some. I was able to go from 4 ounces to around 5.5 per meal. So. Perhaps eating a little more played a role. Plus, I added two starches - sweet potato and wraps. I was not eating any starch at all. Just Protein and veggies. Now, I might eat some sweet potato in a day or I might eat a turkey roll up. I cant eat much of the wrap because it fills me up. That's it really. I fluctuate like .2 to .4 ounces in weight. I'm good with that. I met with the dietitian Monday and the NP. They said our bodies get to a point they slow down when they kind of get to a resting weight for us. I wanted to be like 3 pounds lower than a goal so I would have some wiggle room for fluctuating. I'm 2 pounds down and cool with it. I dont want to be any smaller in size. I dont want to look weirdly or oddly small. So. I'm good here. Congrats on only being 20 pounds away from goal. Good luck!

Hello fellow April Sleevers,

I met with my surgery team for my 8 month follow up appointment yesterday. Wow, can you believe it. Time has flown. I'm doing good. I'm at goal. I dont want to get any smaller. So, the past 2-3 weeks, I've been focused on maintaining versus losing any more weight. I have to kick myself in the behind a little. Water intake and strength exercises could be better. I'm still eating on plan. No cheating. The dietitian asked me about the holidays. I was like, oh please, I could care less about all that food stuff. I walk by tons of candy, pies, and cakes in the grocery store and none of it calls out to me. Food is everywhere these days. I feel blessed that I just don't have any craving or desire for foods that wont help me with my goals.

As we move into a new month, December, how's everyone doing? Anyone concerned about the holidays this month? Would be great to hear from folks as we bring 2021 to a close soon.

Hey Fellow April Sleevers!

This is Thanksgiving week aka "Eat All You Can Eat Day". Just wanted to wish everyone a good week and hope we all stay committed to our goals and food plans and that we meet our goals. 😁👍 We can do it! Cheers to making good choices!

On 11/17/2021 at 6:39 PM, Incredibleshrinkiningkiley said:

Hey guys I am 6 almost 7 months out (April 27) and I started measuring my food, by volume not by weight, (so I use measuring cups) I do 1/2 a cup of everything the portions seem accurate, well it’s to much. I’ve mostly just been intuitive eating meaning I eat until I’m full, I try not to over eat but now when I do that there’s sO much left on my plate. Any advice will help.

Hi there, can you tell me more about moving from weight to volume? I still use weight when home. Quick question based on your question. How did you choose the volume amount? Sounds like it might be too much which may be why you have so much leftover. Maybe cut back the volume some since you are finding it's more food than you need. I was scared to eat beyond the initial feeling of full. So, I still stop eating as soon as I feel it, regardless of how much I still have. I just put the food back or save it. I'm still weary of overeating so I just stop whenever I feel that sensation. Good luck!

3 hours ago, ms.sss said:

LIke @Jaelzion, im a grazer. Its what i've got to do as I am limited as to what i can eat at one sitting...both during weight loss phase AND in maintenance (but more so in maintenance as a need to keep calories up)

I'm 3 years post op (and been maintaining my current weight consistently for almost 2.5 years) and this way of eating hasn't (yet) resulted in any unintended weight gain. For ME it doesn't seem to matter how often or what I'm eating...just total calories...so it doesn't matter if eat 2000 cals in 3 meals or if its spread out in 15 small Snacks throughout the the day....end result is still the same.

Thanks. This just feels so weird to me. It's like I got to goal weight and now I'm eating all day. It's like someone flipped the switch and it just happened. I want to eat and I do. But it's like a few carrots here or some nuts there. I never had this during the first 6 months. I ate at meal time, was full and, I was done. I didn't even think about food. Actually, i would have to remember to eat something because i might not be hungry at the next meal time. It just changed one day in october. And now I think about eating often. But, I'm not hungry. Scares me though. Luckily I don't have anything bad or off plan in my house. I don't crave anything off plan. Just think about eating. I'm not bored or sad or anything like that. Life is busy and fulfilling.

2 hours ago, huskymama said:

I haven’t had surgery yet - I get it in December- but I have been binge watching my 600 pound life and I have learned a lot of tips and tricks but I also see on there people start grazing and gain eventually. Dr Now sends them to therapy to help them get back in track and some of them go back to the liquid stage to reset themselves. But the therapy always seems to work - we all eat and got to the point of needing the sleeve for some reason. I’ve been working on my hard before I have the surgery and I’ve lost 11 pounds the past month just by understanding why I’m using food to cope. Mine is mostly boredom and anxiety I have severe anxiety and while I adore my husband of 20 years he is actually the main source of my anxiety which surprised me. He is one of those people who is passive aggressive and always negative. I honestly had no idea until therapy and I have a Masters degree in psychology lol. So if you can I would try therapy see if it helps. Also our food away so you can’t see it - try doing something instead like painting or knitting, go stand in the porch and get some fresh air until it passes. I have been remodeling my walking closet/laundry room and bathroom. I sometimes only do it for a few minutes even if I don’t feel like it I push myself because not feeling like it is why I am now needing the surgery - at least one of the reasons. You’ve got this and you’ve hit the goal weight! Remember what you felt like before surgery and how you feel now. Is that carrot or whatever really worth it?! Good luck and congratulations on hitting goal! I can’t wait to be there with you!!!

Hi there,

Congrats on starting your journey. You make some good points for many folks on here to consider. I meet with a therapist once a month just to check in about how it's going. Hopefully everyone who goes through this process meets with someone during the process, not just for the initial clearance. I'm doing fine in the therapy realm. I should have clarified that I just meant when I was coming g down from the vacation high, I was feeling bored. That's not in general or why I'm grazing now.

Good luck with your remodeling projects. I spent about 80% of my weekend redoing my walk-in closet. All big clothes out and smaller clothes in. I had gone "shopping in my closet" a couple times during the summer. I had smaller clothes packed in plastic totes from years ago when I was smaller. I had gone through a couple totes during the summer as I lost weight to pick out a few things to wear. But, now that it's cold out, I had to go through again because I had zero warm clothes to wear in my drawers or hanging in the closet. So, this weeknd I literally took everything out all the drawers, closet, and totes and switched everything because summer clothes that had fit now dont, I had to try on all the smaller winter clothes that were packed in totes, take summer clothes out the drawers and swap for warmer ones, and I had to buy some winter clothes. It was quite the weekend project to redo what's in drawers and hanging in closet. Totes were swapped out as well. So, no boredom for me. Quite a busy weeknd. Sadly, spent some money during the process also. I've tried to keep my clothes cost down. Luckily my smaller clothes were good quality so they are still in style and in good shape. Woohoo!

All the best to you during your journey. Congrats on your weight loss so far. 😁

2 hours ago, Jaelzion said:

Grazing has become my normal way of eating. I rarely sit down for a full meal. Instead I eat around six mini-meals throughout the day. It's the same number of calories because I am not grazing AND eating meals. I'm spreading the day's calories across a longer time period. And of course, I'm eating on plan, nutrient dense, protein-rich food and not junk. I start with Protein coffee in the morning and generally finish up with a Dannon Light & Fit yogurt before bed, eating something about every two hours. So far it works for me.

Thanks so much for your reply. Very helpful. I'm going to track more of the timing and see what happens. I just made it to 5 ounces.

On 11/6/2021 at 11:41 AM, Cherylanne22 said:

Hello, glad to hear you are doing so well. My sleeve was 4/15 I too am doing as well as you in fact we sound so much alike I am finding myself able to eat more which is definitely scary I seem to graze more than I eat meals, but dr said it was OK as long as I eat the right things. I finally hit Wonderland I don't weight myself much at all I go by my clothes and my accomplishments like A1c down from 9 to 6. And pills I was on I don't have to take anymore. I walk the park 4 days a week something I couldn't do before. I have No regrets about the surgery at all. I am still losing hair which is frustrating but hopefully dr said it would stop about now so fingers crossed. Anyway, sorry mine is a long post too. Hang in there all newbies it does get easier down the line. Take Care all.

Congrats on reaching Wonderland! I can relate to the Hair loss issue. It started later than expected for me. I thought I had dodged that bullet, but nope. Shockingly I wasn't as mad about it as I thought I would be, but I'm not thrilled. Hoping it stops soon also.

When you graze, do you feel full? What helps you stop grazing. I'm scared so I posted a question about that today. I want to stop. I had not grazed during this entire process. I don't want a bad habit like that to sabotage all this hard work. My grazing is in addition to meals so it's too much food intake. Although the scale shows me fluctuating in a one pound range.

Also, congrats on your A1C levels and reducing medicine! Wooho! Feels great doesn't it!

Hello All,

I had my sleeve surgery exactly 7 months ago. Have done great with weight loss and no complications. I had my 6 month follow up last month, and surgeon said I was doing great. He asked if I was hungry, I said no.

Fast forward just 2-3 days, and I started grazing. It has gone on for 3 weeks now and in scared. I'm not hungry. I can graze even after meals when I feel full. It's like a few bites of fruit or almonds or now its carrots. I weigh daily which isn't an emotional issue for me. It's just a check. I am at goal so I'm not trying to lose more, but I'm not wanting to use grazing to maintain weight either. I was going to ask at my 8 month follow up appt next month, what should I do to stop losing and just maintai. Looks like I've found it. But, I dont want grazing to be the answer.

For those of you who had challenges with grazing, how did you stop it? Mine is totally mental. It started after my first true vacation in october. I did great with staying on plan during the trip. When I got back home, I felt the "back home from vacation" letdown and maybe even a little boredom. Then I started grazing. I need to stop. I'm scared because my restriction is a little less, and I don't want to trigger a bad habit. It's been 3 weeks. Please share what helped you stop. P.S. Yes, I'm alerting my dietitian today also. But, you all can share lived experience of what helped you stop.

Thanks!

Hello All,

Sorry for the crazy long message this morning. How is everyone doing as we kick off November?